It additionally made Apple silicon moderately distinct from all different 64-bit ARM {hardware} when it comes to each CPU core and peripherals. Our Corellium virtualization platform has been offering safety researchers with unparalleled perception into how working techniques and packages work on Apple ARM processors. However within the strategy of creating our virtualization system, we additionally achieve data in regards to the {hardware} we’re modeling, and this information might be finest refined by testing it towards actual {hardware} – which now we have solely been capable of do with the emergence of checkm8, an exploit that permit us load packages onto Apple smartphones. This led on to the Sandcastle challenge, the place we constructed a kernel port to the A10 processor in early 2020.

So when Apple determined to permit putting in customized kernels on the Macs with M1 processor, we have been very blissful to attempt constructing one other Linux port to additional our understanding of the {hardware} platform. As we have been making a mannequin of the processor for our safety analysis product, we have been engaged on the Linux port in parallel.

Glorious work by Corellium, and this materialised loads sooner than I anticipated. This makes M1-equipped Macs probably extra helpful than if they may solely run macOS, however in fact, as with all these closed platforms and Linux assist, the satan is within the particulars – mentioning a Linux kernel is just step one – an enormous and essential one, however solely the primary.